Saint Jerome Reading in an Italian Landscapec. 1653
Saint Jerome sits reading in the sunlight while his lion peers out from behind a tree, and a hill town with Italian buildings rises in the distance. More about this work
About this work
Saint Jerome sits reading in the sunlight while his lion peers out from behind a tree, and a hill town with Italian buildings rises in the distance. Rembrandt drew on Venetian prints and drawings he owned, by Titian and his circle, for the landscape, combining it with his own free, varied line. Parts of the plate are densely worked and others left almost bare, and the mix of etching, burin and drypoint lets him move from deep shadow to dazzling light.
Written by Ochre Editions.
What you’re looking at
A work made of etching, burin, and drypoint on ivory laid paper.
Description from the Art Institute of Chicago.
How it was made
- Drypoint
- Lines scratched straight into the plate with a needle throw up a ridge of metal, the burr, which holds ink and prints a soft, furred line. The burr wears down, so early impressions are the richest.
- Etching
- The artist draws with a needle through a waxy coating on a copper plate, and acid bites the exposed lines. The plate is then inked, wiped and printed under pressure, so the line keeps the freedom of drawing.
- Laid paper
- Handmade on a mould of close-set wires, which leave fine parallel lines you can see when the sheet is held to the light.
Rembrandt van Rijn
Dutch, 1606–1669 · Born in Leiden; died in Amsterdam.
Rembrandt trained in Leiden and Amsterdam, settled in Amsterdam in the early 1630s and became the city’s most sought-after portraitist. His later work grows rougher and more searching, with thick paint, deep shadow and faces that seem lost in thought, as in Aristotle with a Bust of Homer, painted for a Sicilian collector. He was also the leading etcher of his age, reworking plates through many states and making the medium as expressive as painting.
Written by Ochre Editions.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The Art Institute of Chicago has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 1941.1048
- Credit
- Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Type
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
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